


hounds follow those who feed them

by dragonyfox



Series: to experience incredible things [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Multi, but theyre not as important as t7 and id feel like i was cluttering the tags if i tagged them, gai's coming up in sakura's chapter and hana and other hospital people in sasuke's, theres also anko and tenzo right now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-17 09:05:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16513370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonyfox/pseuds/dragonyfox
Summary: Kakashi knows when to outsource training, but he also knows that only he can teach them some things.





	1. naruto

**Author's Note:**

> don't worry, everything will be fine for the kids. eventually. they've got some shit to sort out first, but in the meantime, have a bit of lighter fluff to mitigate that, uh, ending i sure did give yall. 
> 
> and set some other things up because i'm real bad at foreshadowing in advance lmao

Naruto really hadn't liked the sound of "be prepared to not get lots of sleep" if he were really honest. He liked his sleep! Who didn't like getting a full night's sleep, huh? Crazy people, that's who! Still, he was even more excited than he probably looked like. Personal training! With some sort of specialist! How cool would that be? He's have to be insane to not be looking forward to that. 

Of course, waking up to a man with wide, spooky eyes leaning over him with some sort of dramatic lighting illuminating his features in a really, really scary way was enough to make anyone regret getting personal training. And scream like a small child, though he'd never, ever admit that last part even under threat of death.

"Good," the man said, "You should have noticed me sooner. We'll work on it."

.

After the initial fright and then introductions, Naruto realized that this Tenzo guy was really weird and awkward and he had a sneaking suspicion that Kakashi hadn't just thrown him at Naruto for him to be trained in espionage crap. 

"Kakashi-sensei," He'd asked about a week after meeting Tenzo and three days- or rather, nights- after their first training session, "Are you making Tenzo train me because you want me to be sneakier or because he's about as socially aware as Sasuke is?"

"Ehh," Kakashi said, wobbling his hand in the air, "Bit of both, really. How's that going, by the way?"

"He's nuts," Naruto complained, then, with the biggest grin on his face, "but we did end up pranking this guy as a test for me cause Tenzo-sempai-- you know he hates being called sensei? Well, he also hates being called sempai but his reaction to that is funnier, so-"

"Naruto, off topic."

"Right, right," Naruto said. "Anyway we got to prank this guy who's been picking on me for years! I never caught his name, y'know, but every time I see him he buys the last of whatever I just about to buy, and I know he does it on purpose cause this one time-"

"Topic, Naruto,"

"Right!" Naruto shakes his head to try to get his focus to start working again. "Anyway, Tenzo said that pranks were a good test of sneaky skills, so I put glitter in all of his vents and on his ceiling fan and in his laundry machine and-- Right, topic, I know, sorry-- Anyway, I got to prank him and Tenzo said that I did a really good job and that I'm going to be really, really scary when I'm all trained up."

Naruto grins as some of the color washes out of what little he can see of Kakashi's face. It's the least he owes him after getting the hell scared out of him by Tenzo at three in the morning.

"Well," Kakashi says, ruffling Naruto's hair, "At least I know you'll be able to get out of whatever trouble you're going to end up getting yourself into, huh?"

.

The first thing Tenzo taught him was a camouflage jutsu. 

"If you're going to be running around with..." Tenzo paused for a long moment to stare at Naruto's jumpsuit with disdain. " That. You're going to need this. You've done well with it so far, hiding in Konoha, because there's enough orange in the environment-- the roofs, for example, and that one mural on tenth avenue-- but out in the forest, or the desert, or the swamp, or wherever, it's going to be much more difficult to hide."

It's not the easiest thing Naruto's ever learned, if he's honest, but he figures he picks it up quickly enough if Tenzo's pleased nod is anything to go by. It only took him so long in the first place because Tenzo didn't tell him that it required chakra control better than Naruto actually had until he'd spectacularly fucked it up a good dozen times. 

He didn't learn anything else from Tezno for a few weeks, because those weeks were spent perfecting the camouflage jutsu. He'd never perfected a jutsu before, so he was kinda glad to be doing it, but at the same time, it felt really weird to just be doing the same thing, over and over in increasingly difficult spots. And then with Hotaru. And then with Hotaru and Tenzo.

It's all worth it to blend in with a wall and mark six separate ANBU with a special tag he'd been given and not get caught once.

"Oh, my team was pretty upset," Tenzo said idly, "They swear they didn't even feel you put them on them, which means you pass. I think you're ready for the next step, which thankfully isn't going to get me cussed at for thirty minutes, this time."

The next step, to Naruto's surprise, is blending in with a crowd. He passes the test with flying colors by altering his Oiroke Jutsu just a little, to put modest clothes on, and by charming a candy seller into giving him not one but two to-go boxes full of sweets. And then charming his wife into complimenting his dress. And then charming the rest of the customers in the shop into giving him advice on living in Konoha, since his cover story had been that he was new and looking for the best candy shop, and wow, mister, this is the best candy shop he'd ever seen across three countries!

"Step three, then," Tenzo had said while eating the candy from one of the boxes. "And this one won't be as easy for you."

He was right. Step Three was the absolute worst. He still doesn't really know how he managed to pull it off without alerting Chika, at least, and it took him several months of intense and weird studying, but he managed it. 

.

Tricking Taiki was the easier of the two. His sense of smell wasn't as good as Chika's, or even as good as Hotaru's. But he knew Sakura the best of anyone, and convincing him that Naruto was Sakura was really, really hard. 

It had required another even more heavily modified Oiroke, a scent suppression jutsu, Sakura's conditioner and body wash, and a plate of Tsubaki's home-cooked dinner. Even then, he'd been passing by the skin of his teeth, and Taiki had thought something was up with Sakura. At the three-hour mark, which was a lot further than Naruto thought he'd get, he told Taiki that he was going to pick some flowers and, predictably, Taiki had wrinkled his nose and curled up on the couch instead of joining what he thought was his partner.

"Oh, god, that was so hard," Naruto complained at Tenzo the moment he was out of hearing range, "I mean, I knew it was going to be, but jeez!"

"I can't believe it worked," Hotaru said. 

Tenzo laughed softly, like he wasn't used to it. "Yes, it's difficult, but that's why you need to learn it. Think of it like this: if you can imitate your teammates enough to trick their dogs, even just for a few hours, imagine how easy it will be to imitate people close to  your future targets."

Naruto sighs heavily, but launches himself into preparing to trick Chika. He really doesn't think he'll be able to to it, but he knows he has to try, at least. And that he'll only have one shot, because if Chika busts him, she'll be paranoid for the rest of her life about the next attempt and he'll never, ever get another shot, ever.

In the end, he only manages it for an hour, which is the minimum amount of time Tenzo had set, before she sniffs him and growls before hopping off of his shoulder and trotting away to find the real Sasuke.

"Hey, idiot," Sasuke said, carrying Chika as he walked into the room moments later, "What the fuck was that about?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Test from Tenzo-sempai."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Did you pass, at least?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied, grinning, "just barely, but yeah, I did!"

Sasuke shrugs and leaves again. If he were anyone else, Naruto knows that he'd be shaking his head in exasperation, but Sasuke showed his moods in much more subtle ways. Naruto knew this now, because he'd been creepily studying him for weeks, just like he had with Sakura. Which, when he thought about it, was almost certainly part of the reason Tenzo made him mimic his teammates. 

.

"Tenzo says he's going to keep meeting with you, to hone your skills," Kakashi said a month or so later. "I've got someone else I want you to meet, but before I introduce her, you need to know some things, okay?"

"Okay," Naruto said, absently petting Hotaru's head. 

"You are never," Kakashi said, leaning in and glaring, "ever to call her your teacher. She's expressly forbidden from teaching. It's for a foolish reason, of course, but what she's doing is not teaching you, understand?"

Naruto frowned. "I think so. I'm going to be learning from her, but she's not teaching?"

"Correct. Also, I'm giving you a special stipend to pay her in dango. Don't let her make you buy more than two rounds a day, though, okay? I told her not to, but you know how we are."

'We' meaning 'shinobi', and 'are' meaning 'sneaky rule benders'. Naruto understood that just fine. 

.

Naruto had to admit that he really, really liked this lady. He didn't know her name, and he wasn't sure he ever would, but she had some fantastic stories about things she'd done. She was crafty! Sneaky! Clever! If she weren't way too old for him, he'd ask her to marry him, and he'd only be mostly joking.

"Anyway, kid, don't ever do that, because it doesn't end well unless you're on just the right team, you hear me?" she finished. 

"Yeah, I hear you," Naruto said. "Can you tell another?"

The woman takes a bite of dango and chews it slowly before saying, "Tell you what. I think you're ready for this one. Your teammate, the Uchiha, you know about his family?"

A cold weight settles in Naruto's stomach, but he dutifully says, "Yeah, of course. Who hasn't? They were all killed by his brother when he went nuts."

"Ha," the woman said, covering her mouth to hold in another half-chewed bite. "That sure is the official story, isn't it?"

Official story? Naruto waits for her to continue. She hates being interrupted.

"Y'see, kid," she said, "I knew his brother before it all went down. I was his classmate in the academy for a few months, before the tiny little shit graduated too early, and then his team and my team were put on the same missions pretty often, before... Well, that's a story for another day. Anyway, I knew the bastard. There's no way the kid 'just snapped' or whatever bullshit everyone was sold. Honestly, I'd only ever seen him mad a few times, and it was only ever about shit that made damn sense to be mad about. He was a calm kid, kinda quiet. Weird sense of humor, but once you understood it, he was funny as hell."

Naruto listened, enraptured, but also wondering in the back of his mind if he should tell Sasuke about this or not. 

"This one time," the woman said, laughing again and waving a stick of dango, "The little fucker told the old chuunin that used to give out missions, to his face, that he liked the mean bastard's conditioner. Mind you, this was after a twenty minute lecture from the old fucker about how we were going to need to be super stealthy on this mission because yadda yadda a lot was riding on us successfully completing it whatever. My point it, he liked to poke fun at our superiors."

"I don't know where you're going with this," Naruto admitted.

A dango stick was waved angrily in his face. "Shut up, I'm getting there. Anyway, the kid loved his little brother. And I mean it, okay? Like this kid loved his little brother like he was the sun itself, and there was absolutely no way he coulda faked that. He never shut up about how proud he was of his little brother and how much he hated being away from him. I listened to the same two-sentence complaint for years from this kid, okay?"

Naruto doesn't know what possessed him to ask, "What was it? The complaint?"

The woman frowned. "I think it was... 'We're wasting time. Sasuke is waiting for me.' I swear this kid said it every damn mission, okay? I didn't see him much once he went into ANBU-- I only knew he was 'cause I was in T'n'I by then-- but I'm sure he gave them the same damn complaint."

Something tickled the back of Naruto's mind and he blurts, "Weasel!"

The woman paused in her next bite. "Yeah, that was his mask. How'd you know that?"

Naruto didn't tell her that ANBU had plucked him out of sketchy situations when he was little, and he doesn't tell her that Weasel and Hound were the two most common ones, though never at the same time and sometimes one or both would be gone for weeks and weeks. 

He told her, "I used to be babysat by some ANBU when I was really little. I remember him cause I always thought it was weird that he wasn't much bigger than me."

The woman snorted. "Yeah, sounds about right. He was a really tiny fucker. I remember this one time, we had to get into this building for a mission, but the only opening was this itty fuckin' bitty vent, and he was the only one who could fit..."

Later, Naruto realizes he never did get the point of that story out of her.

.

Naruto had long since stopped being frightened when Tenzo appeared in the middle of the night. There was about two weeks where his reaction had been to try to stab the man, but then he'd felt bad and made himself get used to Tenzo's chakra like he was used to Sasuke and Sakura and Kakashi's, so he would stop doing that.

"Training?" Naruto asked, yawning. 

"Our last session for a while," Tenzo said, apologetic.

That sucked to hear, but he'd heard it before, when Tenzo had to go on a long mission. "Okay, gimmie a minute. Food?"

"In the kitchen," Tenzo said, then disappeared without even a swirl of leaves.

Good thing too, Naruto thought as he untangled himself from Sakura and Sasuke and all three of their dogs, because if either of them had been woken up by being smacked with a leaf, they'd be pissed.

Sasuke grumbled and grabbed at the air where Naruto had been. It was his turn to sleep in the middle, which made getting up in the middle of the night really kinda sucky, cause he'd been comfy. Sasuke was quieted by a pillow shoved into his arms. 

Hotaru cracked an eye open. 

"Tenzo," Naruto told her. "Wanna come? He didn't say anything about you this time, so you could probably sleep in if you wanted."

Hotaru closed her eye and snuggled into the back of Sakura's knees firmly. 

Naruto nodded. He didn't blame her. He wasn't even sure what time it was, cause Sakura couldn't sleep with a clock in the room. The ticking kept her awake and made her cranky. Which kinda didn't make sense to Naruto, cause he knew for sure that she could totally fall asleep when he and Sasuke bickered at full volume and had no problem with that. 

He went to the kitchen, ate what Tenzo offered him, and followed him outside and down a few streets and then down a few paths to their usual training spot. 

"Tonight I'm going to teach you to flash-step," Tenzo said. "But first I have to tell you this: nobody's supposed to teach you this until you're a chuunin. If anyone asks, you picked it up on your own. I know you can spin a good enough lie."

"I saw Kakashi do it enough times and after he taught us water walking that I was able to figure it out, too," Naruto said immediately, knowing a prompt from Tenzo when he heard one. "What, like it's hard?"

Tenzo nodded. "Kakashi specifically asked me to teach you this before I left for my mission."

Naruto scratched at his chin thoughtfully. "Has Kakashi-sensei been acting weird for you, too?"

"Yes," Tenzo said, and then, "Now, the hand signs."

.

The most important lesson Naruto learns is from Kakashi. 

"Naruto, Hotaru, come with me," he said the morning of one of his days with him, "We're going somewhere new today."

He'd scarfed down his breakfast in a flash after that, ignoring Sakura's noises of disgust and Sasuke's complaint about table manners, yanked on his shoes, tied Hotaru's headband around her neck, and yanked Kakashi out of the house. He knew Kakashi would take over if he started going the wrong way, and he was just too excited to wait. Kakashi always had something good for him when they went somewhere new.

Sure enough, he redirected Naruto after a few minutes of tugging and led him to a very secluded training ground. 

"You know how you've been studying seals, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, "and how it all just seems to make sense for you? As though the people writing the instructions had written them just for you?"

Naruto has no idea where he's going with this. "Yeah..."

"A long time ago, before you were born," Kakashi said, "There was a village called Uzushiogakure, the Village Hidden in the Whirlpools. They were infamous for their sealing techniques, and for a few clans that have since scattered to the winds. Uzushio is gone now, torn apart by Kiri. The Hatake clan had a branch there, for a while. Uzushio and Konoha were staunch allies, from the beginning. The First Hokage was married to an Uzushio woman, in fact."

Naruto noticed the exact moment when Kakashi hesitated, which was unusual. Kakashi almost never hesitated. Kakashi hesitating was really, really worrying, actually.

Finally, Kakashi said, "That woman's name was Mito Uzumaki."

Naruto very distinctly remembers the sensation of his blood draining from his face and his heart feeling like it'd stopped and his lungs feeling like they'd been stabbed and deflated. It was hard not to remember the moment when your teacher just dropped a bomb like that on you.

"Listen to me very carefully, Naruto," Kakashi said lowly, ignoring his student's shock, "Your family name gives you away, yes, but most will think you're a bastard of a bastard who got lucky in the name department. The truth is, you're descended from the main Uzumaki family. Your mother was the second daughter of the head, and then became the head by technicality when Uzushio fell."

"What the fuck," Naruto said, clutching at Hotaru's fur a little too hard. "Kakashi-sensei, what the fuck."

"Listen!" Kakashi barked, and Naruto jumped. "You have to be very, very careful with this information. The Uzumaki were hunted down by Kiri for a real reason. The Uzumaki had always been a small clan, never more than a dozen or so at a time, but every single one of them was a powerhouse, and together they practically wrote almost all of the books on seals in existence. People wanted that power, and, as a clan, they could fight off most people. You're a powerhouse, Naruto, and you're learning seals, but you don't have the Uzumaki clan backing you up."

"I have a clan!" Naruto protested, weakly. "I have you guys."

"Yes," Kakashi said, gentler now, "You do. Of course you do. Never doubt that you're part of my clan. But there's a reason I couldn't make you my heir, and this is it. You're the heir, the last one, probably, to the Uzumaki clan, and that makes you a target."

Naruto doesn't know what else to say except, "Can I tell...?"

"Of course," Kakashi said immediately, "Of course. They're your team. But I wanted to tell you first, because, well..."

Neither of them said anything for a long while. Naruto doesn't pay any attention to Kakashi, and thinks instead. Why is he being told this? Why wasn't he told sooner? What was the lesson here? Kakashi was supposed to be teaching him right now, and if Kakashi had just wanted to tell him about this without a lesson attached, he would have done it at night, when training times were over.

It came to Naruto in a flash. 

"There's someone here who wants an Uzumaki under his thumb," Naruto said slowly, "Someone powerful. Someone who you don't like, which means they're probably a huge raging dick."

Kakashi said nothing for a long while, then said, "Okay, let's see what you've been working on. Have you managed to reverse-engineer my pack's summoning seal yet?"

"Yeah," Naruto said after a moment, not talking about the seal, then, "Yeah, I figured it out, I think. Want to check my work?"


	2. Sasuke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just so yall know this isnt edited so uh. if theres errors, let me know!

Saskue will admit, he'd argued at first. He'd never heard of an Uchiha medic, and he'd known deep in his bones that his father had expressly forbidden Itachi from becoming a medic nin, when he had asked when he was eleven and Sasuke was four. His father had shouted a lot and frightened Sasuke into crying, which had only fueled his father's rant, somehow. 

Sasuke deliberately does not think of how his brother had taken him out to ice cream the next day as apology. 

Kakashi wore him down, though. If by 'wore down' he meant 'explicitly ordered.' Still, Sasuke went and attended lessons with Hana and then at the hospital and...

Gods he hated to admit it, but he loved it. Sure, the paperwork sucked, and the first time he lost a patient-- nevermind that he was only a helping nurse-- he'd fucking bawled his eyes out on an unsuspecting doctor and then sworn the woman to secrecy, and the smell made him wear a sick mask just to try to muffle it some. 

There was nothing like the sheer fucking joy of helping a dumb kid who had broken an arm, or of stabilizing an idiot jonin coming in from a rough mission, or even of fixing his teammates stupid cuts and bruises after they went a little too hard against each other or Kakashi. It just felt really good, and even though he brushed off every grateful word and thankful gesture, it all just made him feel good. Like he was doing good in the world. Like if he saved enough lives it would make up for all the lives Itachi took. 

He tried not to think about it, actually.

.

Hana had taught him first, and she taught him to heal dogs. 

"You'll need it, if your dumbass teacher and his pack is anything to go by," she'd muttered darkly. "I swear, I saw at least three of them every single time they came back from a mission. At least until he got you kids. I've only seen him in my clinic once since then, when Pakkun sprained a paw a few months back."

Sasuke remembered that. It hadn't even been a bad sprain, but Pakkun had thrown the biggest fit he'd ever seen that little dog ever throw. Chika had been impressed. 

"Your teacher is a reckless son of a bitch," Hana said without any heat in her tone, "and so are all of his dogs. Don't follow in his footsteps, kid, or I'll kick your ass, got it?"

"Got it," Sasuke said. "Show me how to reattach tendons again, please."

.

The medics at the hospital were a lot stricter about when he used his sharingan than Hana was. Hana didn't care if he used it to memorize books on the first read or if he used it to copy techniques so long as he actually understood the material and how the technique worked. 

"The human body is a lot more complex than a dog's," Akari, one of the medic-nins who was least annoyed by being shadowed by a trainee, said to him once, "Use it for learning the techniques faster, but don't slack on perfecting them. Sloppy healing could get someone killed, understand?"

"I understand," Sasuke had said, tensing his arm muscles so he didn't grit his teeth. 

And he did. He didn't like it, but he did understand. His eyes were, technically, a cheater's way to learning. Still, he hated to be slowed down. It's not like his team was going on any missions out of the village for several weeks, anyway. He'd have time to learn the majority of the jutsu and most of the anatomy he'd need and be able to polish all of the ones he'd expect to get regular use out of, in his opinion. 

Of course, the moment he'd voiced that opinion, he'd been given a lecture that had left his ears ringing. 

"You idiot boy!" Akari had shouted, "do you have any idea what happens when you fuck up a jutsu just enough to kill someone? Do you have any idea how that feels when it's your own fucking teammate? You stupid, arrogant fucking child! There's a reason we teach you one fucking technique at a time!"

She'd then spent half an hour listing off ways an unperfected healing jutsu had killed someone, and only stopped because she'd been drawn away to repair a broken bone some chunin had acquired.

"I won't bring it up again," Sasuke had sworn after she'd sent the chunin off again. "One jutsu at a time."

"Damn right, stupid kid," she'd replied. "There's a burn victim the next room over. Let's ask if he'll let you give that a shot, hm? I know you're good at that one, Uchiha."

By the time he was able to begin shadowing doctors at the hospital, he'd already perfected healing minor cuts and scrapes and bruises. After that lecture, he'd remembered how many times he'd used it on his teammates, and had frozen in the middle of the hallway. 

"Kid, what the fuck," Fumi, a doctor who didn't particularly like him, had said. 

"Is it possible to fuck up healing minor wounds and cause damage?" he'd demanded. 

Fumi scoffed. "Not hardly. You're fine fucking up healing techniques until you get to piecing muscles or organs back together. Ligaments and tendons can get sketchy, too, if you place it badly. Whoever you've practiced on is fine, kid."

Sasuke absolutely will never admit to the breath of relief he'd let out at hearing that. 

.

"I had a thought," Kakashi said, the morning before he was supposed to train Sakura. "Sasuke, would you like to learn kenjutsu?"

Sasuke slowly turned his head to look at Kakashi. He wasn't sure what to say, in all honesty. It would be an insanely useful skill, of course, and the Uchiha clan was renowned for churning out excellent kenjutsu users. But on the other hand, even the thought of learning it made the image of his brother flash in his mind. 

"I don't know," he'd said eventually.

Kakashi scratched his chin through his mask. "Hm. Well, tell you what: I'll write a note to a friend today, telling him you might or might not show up and ask for lessons and that I sent you. He's in the village for the next two months on sick leave, so that's how long you have to decide. He likes Training Ground 43."

Sasuke had nodded and went about his day as normal. He finished eating, visited Hana, shadowed Hitomi today, since Akari was off that day, at the hospital, ate lunch with Naruto, since Sakura was training with Kakashi, trained with him for a few hours, trained alone for a few hours, and then returned home for dinner with the rest of his team and Sakura's mom.

.

Three days later, on what was supposed to be his off day, Sasuke found himself at Training Ground 43, and he watched as a man with the dark bags under his eyes slowly went through katas with a katana. As he watched, he realized he'd seen this man before, at the hospital. He had some sort of terminal illness- Sasuke wasn't sure which, due to doctor-patient confidentiality- and was in and out of the hospital every few weeks.

"You going to just stare or are you going to introduce yourself?" the man said after a few more minutes of Sasuke's staring.

Sasuke startled, then said, "Sasuke Uchiha. This is Chika. Kakashi sent us."

"I know, kid," the man said. "C'mere. Kakashi said you'd be decent at kenjutsu, and he's never wrong about shit like this, but I want a better look at you before I decide if you're worth training."

Chika licked his chin as a reminder to stop gritting his teeth. It took some effort, but he managed it. He stepped forward, into the clearing, then asked, "What's your name? Kakashi didn't tell me."

"Hayate Gekko," the man said offhandedly while he circled Sasuke like a vulture. He coughed, then added, "You'll do. Don't turn those eyes of yours on to watch anyone but me practive kenjutsu, understand? I don't want you-" He paused to cough, "-picking up shitty habits."

Sasuke perked up.

"I worked with Uchiha in the past," Hayate continued, "I know how it works well enough to know that kenjutsu is something you can learn with your eyes, but you do still have to practice, understand?"

"I understand," Sasuke said. 

"I mean it, kid," Hayate pressed, then coughed. "You'll end up hurting yourself if you try to fight with a sword you haven't practiced with."

"I understand," Sasuke said again, annoyed. What was it with people thinking he'd just copy something and then not make sure he understood it? Was that something his clan used to do?

Hayate shrugged. "Okay then. Pick a stick."

Sasuke stared at him for a long moment before looking around and picking a stick that was, more or less, the length and shape of a sword. It was, perhaps, a little thicker than necessary, and probably too long, but he figured it would be good enough.

"Give it," Hayate said, and took it from Sasuke's hands when he offered it. He examined the stick for a long moment, turning it over, pausing to cough into his arm, tossing it lightly in the air, and swinging it a little before handing it back to Sasuke. "Good. Now, get out a kunai, and carve that into the shape of a katana."

Sasuke took the stick back. "What?"

"Carve it into a katana," Hayate said again, then coughed.

"I don't understand how this will help me," Sasuke said, unable to stop the heat of frustration slipping into his voice. "What's the point of doing that? I can get a sword from the compound if you need me to get something to practice with!"

"Oh, no," Hayate said, coughed, then continued, "it's not to practice with. You really want to know the point?"

Sasuke nodded emphatically. 

Hayate shrugged. "Get carving, then, and I'll tell you."

Sasuke growled, but sat down on the ground and began hacking at the stick with a kunai. Chika licked his chin again, and he stopped grinding his teeth again. 

He finished in just over an hour, and presented it to Hayate irritably.

Hayate looked it over carefully, coughing every now and again. "Not bad, not bad. Not quite good enough, though. Tell you what-- make one of these a day-" he coughed, "-and meet me here again this time next week. If you don't figure out the point by then, I'll tell you."

Sasuke nodded sharply, and ignored the humiliation burning in his gut. How had he fucked up carving a damn sword? Why was it so imporant to Hayate? 

His thoughts were interrupted by a cough and a hand ruffling his hair. "Don't worry, kid, I'm sure you'll figure it out. Kakashi says you're a smart kid, so prove it."

.

So, as much as he hated it, Sasuke carved a new wooden katana every day. He started it in the morning, before he left for the hospital, and finished it at night, after he'd eaten dinner. The pile of wooden katanas by the door of the house drew curious attention from Sakura, Taiki, and Naruto, a request to set it on fire from Hotaru, and a knowing "ah," from Kakashi.

On the third day, Sasuke shoves away his pride and, upon arriving at the hospital for the day, quietly asks, "Akari-sempai, is there a way to pull debris from a wound?"

"Oh, the mighty Uchiha calls me sempai for once!" Akari had said with a grin, then answered, "Yes, it's very simple. I've been meaning to teach it to you for a while. It's also good for getting out splinters."

Sasuke resolutely ignored her knowing smile and committed the technique to memory as she showed it to him. 

.

Hayate examined each of the wooden katanas one by one, when Sasuke dropped the bundle at his feet. He took his time, too, spending at least several minutes squinting at details. Sasuke tried counting how many times Hayate coughed, but gave up at about twenty, and pulled out an anatomy book he'd been assigned the day before. 

"These last two are picture perfect," Hayate said, "Well done."

Sasuke gave the man a withering look.

Hayate coughed. "Did you figure out the point of it?"

"Was it just to irritate me?" Sasuke demanded, then shook his head. "It was either to teach me patience or to teach me what a katana looked like."

"Both, actually," Hayate said, grinning. "Now, some katas. Grab number seven, there, and we can get started."

"You said these weren't to practice with," Sasuke accused.

Hayate laughed, though it was interrupted by a cough. "Did you really think I would let a kid with no kenjutsu experience practice with a live sword while I taught them? Hell no. Go ahead and turn your eyes on to watch me, kid."

.

"Who's turn with me is it today?" Kakashi asked at breakfast one morning. "I can't remember..."

"Mine," Sasuke had said before Sakura or Naruto could make a scene.

Kakashi snapped his fingers. "Oh good! I have something you'll like. I've been saving it for the right time, actually. I was worried it was Sakura's day and we'd just end up doing drills all day again."

"I don't mind drills," Sakura muttered. "They're kind of fun."

Sasuke and Naruto shared an incredulous look across the table. Drills? Fun? On what fucking planet, Sakura? But neither of them said anything, having learned their lessons the hard way about talking down on various training routines.

After breakfast, Kakashi took Sasuke to the Hatake shrine, to talk, he'd said. 

"I thought you had a new thing to show me?" Sasuke asked when they got there.

"Oh, I do," Kakashi said with a careless wave, "But first I want to talk to you about your eyes and your teammates."

Something in Sasuke's heart iced over at those words. If he thought too hard, he'd start hearing his brother's voice in the back of his mind again, telling him he's weak. He said nothing, and waited for Kakashi to continue.

"Have you ever heard of the mangekyou sharingan?" Kakashi asked. 

"No," Sasuke said, frowning. 

Kakashi nodded as though he'd expected that answer. "It's the next level up from the regular sharingan, but it's unlocked in a special way. You know that your regular sharingan gains tomoe as you use it more, and become more familiar with how it functions."

"How do I gain the mangekyou, then?"

Instead of answering, Kakashi asks, "You care for your teammates, yes?"

"Of course," Sasuke said quietly, after a long moment.

"Would you say you're closer to Sakura or Naruto? Which would break your heart more if one was to die?"

Sasuke stared at Kakashi, not bothering to hide the horror in his expression. Where the fuck was this coming from? What was the point of this? Kakashi knew damn well that that was an impossible choice! Chika, no doubt feeling his stress, started licking his ear frantically.

"Fuck you," Sasuke said, moving to stand.

"Sit down."

Sasuke sat back down. 

"I'm not asking you this to be cruel," Kakashi said softly. "I've got a point here, okay? You don't have to tell me, and you don't even have to actually choose. I would prefer that you didn't, actually."

"What's the point of this, then?" Sasuke demanded. "You were talking about the next level of the sharingan, and then talking about my team dying!"

"The point," Kakashi said, his voice hardening, "is that you can only gain the mangekyou if you watch one of your precious people die, or, worse, if you kill them yourself."

"If I...?" Sasuke said, then felt the blood drain from his face. "I have to-? Is that what he meant by- Oh, fuck."

He didn't really remember running out of the shrine and to a nearby bush to puke up his breakfast. He did remember Kakashi's hand on his back and Kakashi's voice muttering soothing words and apologies and Chika's little paws on his leg and her cold nose on his face. They don't stop Itachi's words from coming back to haunt him, but they're enough of a distraction from the horror that it isn't overwhelming like it usually is. 

"Shisui," Sasuke said.

"Yeah, probably," Kakashi had agreed. 

"Fuck," Sasuke said, and dry heaved some more. "Fucking hell... I can't-! I know he-! But he's- was-! Why didn't you-?"

"I know," Kakashi said. "I'm sorry. This is why I waited until now. You wouldn't have been able to handle this six months ago, let alone when I first took you three on as genin. I'm sorry you had to find out at all."

"Why is it like that?" Sasuke asked finally.

"I don't know," Kakashi said. "I wish I did, but I don't.

Sasuke said nothing for a long while. Instead, he went back to the house and slipped into the bathroom through a window to clean himself up. If he scrubbed at his skin a little rougher than strictly necessary with water that was a little hotter than it should be, well, that was his fucking prerogative, wasn't it? Anyone who had just found out about such a horrifying fact about their family would do the same.

He returned to the shrine, steadfastly ignoring the now-clean spot where he'd thrown up. 

"This is why you gave us the dogs," Sasuke said flatly. "You wanted the three of us to have a stronger connection to each other. You thought I was a fucking flight risk, didn't you?"

"Naruto, too," Kakashi confirmed. "And Sakura was too likely to wash out for my taste. The three of you had such potential, and I couldn't stand to see it wasted. And it worked. You can understand why I wouldn't tell you upfront."

"I understand," Sasuke said. "Are we still flight risks?"

Kakashi tilted his head. "I don't know, Sasuke, are you a flight risk?"

Sasuke didn't answer the question. "If my- If he already had the mangekyou, then why did he kill my clan? Is insanity another price of the mangekyou? It doesn't make any sense anymore."

"It never really did," Kakashi admitted easily. "Itachi's personality shift was very sudden. Even his team hadn't noticed."

That's suspicious, Sasuke realized. That made the whole thing make less sense.

"Why did you tell me this?" He asked instead of voicing his new doubts. "Why didn't you just let that information die? What if it had tempted me and I went fucking insane like-?"

"Are you going to lose your mind and kill Sakura or Naruto?" Kakashi asked, his voice as serious as the grave. "I can put you down right now if I have to, but I would rather not have to."

Sasuke shook his head. "You- you don't. I just. What made you so sure?"

Kakashi didn't answer right away. "You're a medic, Sasuke."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Sasuke demanded. "You're the one who pushed me towards it! Was I not fucking supposed to-?"

"No, Sasuke, listen to me," Kakashi said, and Sasuke fell silent. "You're a medic. Do you know a single Uchiha that's ever been a medic? I don't. There's no record anywhere of an Uchiha ever becoming a medic. Do you know why?"

"Father said it wasn't an appropriate skill for Uchiha to learn," Sasuke answered automatically, "We're warriors, not nurses."

Kakashi nodded. "Except you. I got a lot of shit for teaching you three to summon your dogs, did you know? I got a lot more shit for insisting you try your hand at becoming a medic. Most of the council wanted my head for that stunt. They insisted that you should be allowed to follow in the traditional Uchiha way. Do you know what I told them?"

Sasuke shook his head. 

"I told them," Kakashi said, "That you'd end up just like the rest of them if you had. I told them that like this, they had a chance to keep a founding family of Konoha loyal. I told them that you being a medic would turn the Uchiha family legacy completely around. You know how many believed me?"

"How many?" Sasuke asked, his voice sounding hollow even to his ears.

"Three people," Kakashi told him. "The Hokage, Tsume Inuzuka, and Shikaku Nara. You're a medic because the Hokage allowed you to be. If it were up to any of the others, you'd be following in your brother's footsteps."

That stung, Sasuke realized. It stung to know that even after betraying his family and the village, Itachi was still considered the perfect Uchiha. If the Hokage hadn't been sympathetic, he'd no doubt be an absolute fucking disaster of a human being right now. 

"How is this making me any less of a flight risk?" Sasuke asked.

"It doesn't," Kakashi said. "Do you want to learn some lightning techniques? Your chakra is suited to lightning, and, well, metal conducts. Every medic should be able to defend themself and their patient, hm?"

Sasuke recognized the deflection for what it was, but agreed. Anything to get his mind off of the horror that his stupid fucking eyes could become, if he let them.


	3. Sakura

Sakura kind of hated Gai, and she kind of hated Kakashi for throwing her at him. Sure, Kakashi apologized for it, but the man was more than a little off his rocker. How was she supposed to run so many laps through the village when she could barely run from her house to the market without running out of breath? And then spar against his equally insane student with a taijutsu style she hadn't even halfway mastered?

"One more!" Gai shouted. "One more and then we can move on to greater things!"

Taiki whined loudly. 

"We're going to die," Sakura said to him, panting between each word, "But first, we're going to kill Kakashi-sensei for this, right?"

Taiki barked a tired agreement. 

.

Loathe as she was to admit it, Gai's training worked like a charm. In just days, she was breathing better than she ever had. In a week, she could keep up with her boys in a spar, no problem. In a month, she could usually outlast Sasuke and sometimes outmaneuver Naruto. 

"Your training with Gai is going well, then?" Kakashi asked, standing just outside of her reach after Naruto and Sasuke had tired her out. "You're doing much better than you used to."  
"Yeah," she said begrudgingly, then, "I still hate you for throwing me at him unprepared." 

"I know, I know," Kakashi said, ducking his head apologetically. "I'm very sorry. But! It worked, didn't it?"

"At what cost, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura demanded, "At what cost?"

.

Three months in, and Sasuke refused to go toe to toe with her without being allowed to use jutsu. 

It was more than a little thrilling to realize that the boy who had been top of their class was unwilling to fight her not because she was too weak, but because she was too strong. Before Wave, she would have been devastated to know that she was stronger than Sasuke from some deluded idea that he'd want a woman to be submissive to him. She knew better now, and now she was delighted to kick his ass any day. 

"Aww, bit of a scaredy-cat, Sasuke?" Sakura taunted, baring her teeth. 

Sasuke was unimpressed. "I'll put a muzzle on you if you bite me. Don't think I'm joking. I'm a fucking medic, for fuck's sake. It's hard to heal your own broken hands, and I'm not that good yet."

"I'll fight you, Sakura!" Naruto offered. "My taijutsu's getting better too, y'know!"

Kakashi laughed. "No, kids, you've beaten each other up enough for today. How about some tandem fighting for the rest of today, hm? Sakura, I want you to bruise me at least once. Naruto, for the love of the gods, hit me with a jutsu without hitting Sakura this time, okay?"

Sakura laughed joyously over Naruto's protests of 'It was one time!' and, when she was sure he was ready to move, she launched herself at Kakashi. As expected, Naruto was right on her heels, throwing jutsu after jutsu at Kakashi. His new obsession might be seals, but Kakashi was making sure his jutsu repertoire was up to snuff as well. 

After a while, she lost herself to the fight. It was a thrilling feeling, thinking of nothing more than her next move and how to move around Naruto and their dogs and how to hit the enemy. Kakashi told her just after her chakra accepted the Hatake white chakra that this was a natural thing for their family, and nothing to be ashamed of. She never understood why anyone would ever be ashamed of it- it felt so nice!

Eventually, though, Kakashi's long sleeves were in tatters from Naruto's wind jutsus, and there was visible bruising on his arms, and he called the fight. It took Sakura a split second longer than she liked to reign herself back in, but that was the price of the mindset she kept finding herself in. 

"Excellent," Kakashi said, and beckoned Sasuke over to heal their wounds. "Sakura, your disengagement still needs work. Naruto, your aim is getting better, but you still hit Sakura a few times, so you need to work on that."

"Honestly," Sasuke muttered, which she only heard because he was right next to her, healing a shallow cut from one of Naruto's jutsu. "He's going to cut your damn head off one day."

"It's not so bad," Sakura said, cheerier than she expected, "I mean, if we didn't have a personal healer, maybe it would suck, but we have you, Sasuke-kun! So we're fine."

Later, Sakura would realize that the stain of red on Sasuke's neck was that of flustered, flattered pride at being complimented by a crush, but at the time, she'd been too high off the fight still to do more than just notice the creeping flush.

.

Sakura liked Tsume. She was a kind teacher, but not gentle. She was blunt, precise, and expected Sakura to know everything she'd been told the first time she was told. Luckily, Sakura was very, very good at memorizing information, and Tsume was mostly just telling her how politics worked, which Sakura really thought kinda just made sense anyway. 

Sometimes, though, Tsume would lead her to something interesting that Sakura was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to know, let alone be told by a member of the council.  
"Pup," Tsume said, more serious than usual, "Got a big one for you today."

Sakura perked up. She'd barely been in the Inuzuka compound for ten minutes before being hunted down and told she was learning something big. It had to be something super important for that to happen, which was always a good way to get Sakura's attention.

"Tell me what you think of the council you've met so far," Tsume said instead of elaborating. 

"Well," Sakura hedged, then remembered one of her earliest lessons with Tsume, then said, "I know that Nara-san is the smartest person in the village, except maybe for Shikamaru. Yamanaka-san isn't a slouch either, and Akamichi-san pretends to be kind of dopey but he's just as smart..."

And so she spends the next fifteen minutes mentally running through a list of the council members in her head and giving Tsume her honest opinion of each. If Tsume thought she'd been buttering her up with her opinion of her, she was sorely mistaken, though. Sakura really honestly thought that she was the coolest woman she'd ever met in her life, and she wasn't about to just not tell Tsume that.

"You missed someone," Tsume said when she was finished. Her expression was perfectly, eerily neutral. "Danzo Shimada."

Sakura frowned. She hadn't, but her mother always said that if you couldn't say anything nice about someone, you shouldn't say anything at all. But if Tsume really wanted her honest opinion...

"I think he's a creep and that he's hiding something," Sakura said, keeping her voice as quiet as she could, wary of being overheard even though they were in Tsume's kitchen and surrounded by dogs and people barking and howling. "I don't like him, and I don't know how anyone else does. He makes my skin crawl and all of my instincts scream danger."

"Smart," Tsume said, "Even smarter that you wanted to keep that to yourself. Danzo Shimada is a very dangerous man, you hear me? Everything he does is for the good of The Village."

Sakura heard her words and heard that the words being stressed weren't the usual ones. 'For the good of The Village,' not, 'for the Good of the village'. It sounded wrong to her ears, to hear those words in the right order but emphasized so differently. Then she realized the meaning behind it, and Sakura finally understood why she disliked Danzo, and the hair on the back of her neck raised at the implications.

"If he's so dangerous," Sakura asked, "Why is he still on the council?"

Tsume barked out a laugh. "Can't pin anything on him. Konoha is still, technically, partially a democracy. The Hokage might have the final word, like he did with your teammate becoming a medic, but he's got to keep appearances, you know?"

Meaning, Sakura understood, that he couldn't just disappear Danzo, or have him killed quietly, because nobody would ever believe it, and it would undermine Konoha's position as "the nice ninja village." And that of course Danzo would never allow himself to be implicated in anything that would damage his political career. 

"We've been trying for years to pin something on him," Tsume added, a little quieter. "We've found bupkis. Nothing. Zilch. He's squeaky clean, that one. Makes you wonder what kind of muck he has to wash off, hm? Even the noblest of us gets their hands dirty sometimes."

"Yeah," Sakura said quietly, "It kind of does."

.

Gai has her training in a weird combination of two very different taijutsu styles, and she has to somehow keep her new combo separate from how she fights next to Naruto until she's proficient enough to teach him to move around her new style. It took her over a week since gaining any proficiency in it to stop kicking him in the knee whenever he swerved around her to throw a jutsu.

Frankly, it was a headache and a half. And she still didn't get to use her battleaxe that she'd been so delighted to find. 

"I'm not a weapons expert," Gai had said apologetically, "and my rival has you focused on tandem fighting, which is no place for a weapon that large until you're properly trained."

Sakura bristled. "I want to be able to fight without Naruto there! He's my teammate, and I love fighting next to him, but I need to be able to hold my own, too! Isn't there anyone you know who can help me?"

Gai grinned, nearly blinding her with the whiteness of his teeth. "Why, Sakura-chan! I was wondering when you would ask! You'll find my wonderful student, Tenten, at Training Ground 17! She's well on her way to becoming Konoha's premier weapons mistress! From now on, after warm ups and practice with Lee and I, you're to see her for training!"

Sakura scrambled to collect her things, at that. Anything to get her away from Gai and Lee, because even if his other student was crazy too, she couldn't be as insane as those two.

"Hey, you're Sakura-chan, right?" a mousy girl a little older than her asked when she arrived at Training Ground 17. "I'm Tenten. Gai-sensei said he'd be sending you my way. I hear you picked up a monster of a battle axe?"

"Oh, thank god," Sakura said, "You're normal!"

Tenten laughed loudly. "Yeah, they're a bit much, aren't they? Have you met Neji? He's my other teammate, and he's just as bad, just in like, a totally different way. When Gai-sensei asked if I'd teach you, you bet I snapped up that opportunity. So, let's get to it!"

Thankfully, Tenten wasn't quite as crazy as Gai was. She still drove Sakura into the ground, but at least she gave her breaks instead of making her keep going! Plus she had regular snack and water breaks instead of Gai's insane "Eat and run! Drink and run!" philosophy. 

"Oh, yeah, I hated that shit," Tenten admitted. "Took me six months to demand he let us have proper snack and water breaks. Lee never took to it, of course. You're met him right? Yeah, just about the second he saw Gai-sensei, he wanted to follow in his footsteps. I don't blame him-- Taijutsu's the only thing he's got, so of course he'd want to be the best, right?"

Sakura paused. "What?"

"Hm?" Tenten asked. "Oh, Lee? Yeah, he's got just a tiny bit more chakra than a civilian does. He can't use jutsu, and he can barely stick to walls or walk on water. He's just got taijutsu to work with. He's pretty brave, honestly. I don't think I would have been able to keep on like he does if I couldn't use jutsu, honestly."

"Huh," Sakura said. "But Gai-sensei can...?"

"Oh, he just likes taijutsu," Tenten assured her. "He's just flat out crazy. Lee at least has a reason. Anyway, you ready?"

.

Knowing what she now knew about Lee made her think about her own resoluteness. 

"Kakashi-sensei," she asked during one of her days with him. He was helping her refine her sense of smell, so she was blindfolded and being offered various things to smell. "Is there anything you weren't good at that you made yourself be good at anyway?"

"How do you mean, Sakura-chan?" Kakashi asked. "Also, smell this and tell me what you think it is."

Sakura sniffed the offered scrap of cloth and scrunched her nose. "That's one of Naruto's old shirts that he uses to clean the floors with. I don't know, I was talking to Tenten and she told me that Lee can't use jutsu, and I was wondering if there was anything you couldn't do."

"Well," Kakashi said. "There isn't anything I didn't catch onto really quick in regards to shinobi skills, but... I was pretty terrible with people as a kid. You remember how Sasuke was before he started loosening up, right? I was like that, but worse, if you can believe that."

Sakura stared at him for a long moment. "How?"

"I'm considered a 'genius'," Kakashi said, and Sakura could hear the air quote even though she was blindfolded. "Everything about being a shinobi was easy for me. My father trained me in the basics when I was really too young, because it was the only way he knew how to connect with someone after my mother died. I graduated from the academy when I was five, and was a chuunin by the time I was six."

"That's ridiculous," Sakura blurted, "We weren't allowed to graduate any younger than ten! It was in the rule book!"

Kakashi shrugged. "Yeah, there's a few reason for that. I'm one of them. Itachi Uchiha is another. When I was a kid, it made sense, because we were in the middle of a war. When it happened to Itachi, it was because he was just that good."

Sakura grimaced.

"Right, so we learned that lesson the hard way," Kakashi said. He paused to rummage in his pack again, then continued, "I never learned how to make friends, is my point. Gai made friends with me by force, so he doesn't count. Smell this."

Sakura smelled it. "It smells like Gai, but also like Training Ground 23. He doesn't train there much. Did you lure him there for one of your dumb matches and then steal this from him?"

"Yeah," Kakashi admitted shamelessly. "I'm sure he noticed, but he didn't say anything. That's as good as permission, right?"

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura started, then shook her head. "No, nevermind. I'm never going to understand your weird thing with Gai, and I kind of don't want to try."

He laughed. "Smart of you. Smell this."

"Mom's apron," Sakura said immediately.

"Good. So anyway, I never learned how to make friends. I had friends, of course, but I didn't recognize them as friends, because I was an idiot genius child. I was assigned a team, and I got to stick with them through the war, because we worked well on missions and in battle even if we didn't really get along outside of that. Smell this."

"Smells like the academy and mud."

"Correct. My last mission with one of those teammates, his name was Obito Uchiha, ended in disaster. Did you know I used to believe following the shinobi code was more important than my comrades?"

"You?" Sakura demanded, as incredulous as she thinks she's ever been in her life. "But your whole thing is 'those who abandon their comrades is trash!'"

"Smell this. Yeah, well, that only happened after Obito said that to me when our third teammate was kidnapped. I wanted to continue the mission, he wanted to rescue her. He ran off, I tried to continue the mission. By the time my conscience kicked in, it was."

He paused for a long moment, and Sakura gave him a moment before saying, "Training Ground 19 and lightning jutsu."

"...correct. I got there just as an enemy started dropping the cave he'd taken Rin to above our heads. Obito... He pushed me out of the way. Half of his body was crushed. I'd gotten my eye gouged out earlier that day, so Obito told Rin to give me his eye. That's why I have this eye."

Neither of them said anything for a long while. 

Sakura kind of wondered why he hadn't told them this story before, but then she remembered Wave, and how she felt when she'd only thought that Sasuke was dead. She could very easily imagine how she'd feel if he actually had died, and it hurt. Of course he didn't want to relive that memory any more than he had to, and that thought made her feel bad for asking. 

"I won't make you promise not to sacrifice yourself for your team," Kakashi said suddenly, "But at least try not to, please? I used to wish that it had been me. I don't, not anymore, but... Don't do that to your team, please. And don't let the boys do it, either."

"I won't," Sakura promised, meaning it. 

She felt Kakashi scrutinizing her for a long moment, and knew the moment he nodded. "Alright. Next smell."

.

Sakura thinks back to that moment while she's running through the trees with her boys and their dogs at a breakneck speed, far away from the village all of them had called home. 

She thinks of that moment when they're finally making camp somewhere in swampy southern Fire Country. 

She thinks of that moment when both of her boys are asleep, and she's on last watch before they continue their run away from the only home they'd ever known. 

Kakashi had died for reasons she didn't know yet, and stayed alive long enough to give them one last command, to protect them. His last words were a warning, and even through the calming seal, an ache deep in her chest made her eyes wet with tears she couldn't quite cry just yet, because she knew that the last thing he'd felt had been fear. Kakashi-sensei had died afraid. 

Taiki crawls into her lap. "I miss him."

"Me too."

A snap alerts both of them to company, and in a flash, Sakura is standing, two kunai drawn, Naruto is standing with her a flash later, and she hears Sasuke unsheathe his sword at the same time.

"Easy," a familiar voice says, "It's just us."

A pack of dogs emerges from the shadows, led by a small pug. Pakkun looks tired, and sad. Bull, Urushi, Shiba, Bisuke, Akino, Uhei, and Guruko stand behind Pakkun, each of them looking equally as tired and sad. 

"Holy shit," Naruto says. "Holy shit, you guys are okay!"

"Kakashi's last command to us," Pakkun says, sitting down, "Was to go to you. It's.. tradition. Kakashi passed on before we did, so we're passed on to you, if we wish to be."

"Do you?" Sasuke asks.

Pakkun snorts humorlessly. "Not me. I was with Kakashi since he was a pup himself. I can't... I'll never be able to have another master. It won't feel right. I'm only here to lead the rest of these idiots to you idiots. Guruko's coming with me, back to the spirit world, but the rest want to stay with you three."

"Your pack is our pack," Sakura says. "Thank you, Pakkun. Maybe we'll see you again sometime?"

"Maybe," Pakkun says, and disappears with a puff of smoke for the last time. Guruko follows shortly after. 

"Sasuke, may I join your pack?" Bisuke asks. 

"Of course," Sasuke says softly, reaching out to pet Bisuke's head gently. "I'm glad to have you."

"Me and Bull are gonna stick with Naruto, if that's alright," Shiba says. "We'll fit in best with your fighting style, you know? Plus, you're funny.

Naruto nods frantically, not bothering to hold back his tears as he reaches for them and pulls them and Hotaru into a too-tight hug that none of the dogs mind. 

Sakura turns to Urushi, Akino, and Uhei. "You want to be part of my pack?"

"Yep," Uhei says. 

She nods. She is still wearing the calming seal, and still can't really feel anything. "Okay. Thank you for choosing me. Do you need rest, or are you ready to keep running? We're already awake, so we might as well, but I'm sure we can spare an hour if we need to."

"We're good to go," Akino says. "C'mon, let's get us somewhere safe, yeah?"

Sakura looks at her boys, who seem to be pulling themselves back together again, and says, "Yeah. Let's go. Fall in."

Her boys and their packs, newly filled, fall in behind her, and when she starts running again, she knows that they're going to be okay, because Kakashi made sure that they would be, no matter what happened. 


End file.
